


In the House of Appeals

by moon_opals



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Episode: s3e21 The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Goldie O'Gilt is a good mom, Louie is ignorant about his family's drama, Scrooge is Not a Hero But Not a Villain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29944536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon_opals/pseuds/moon_opals
Summary: Doofus confronts Scrooge with the truth he has hurt his family more than he knows.
Relationships: Louie Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge McDuck/"Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt
Comments: 12
Kudos: 53





	In the House of Appeals

**Author's Note:**

> Rarely is a great man a good man.

“Ms. McDuck, how would you describe your relationship with your father?”

Louie knew this was not good. Doofus had called this last witness out of desperation, and if he knew anything about desperation, it led people to the most miraculous or disastrous accomplishments. 

“I simply want to examine Scrooge McDuck’s closest biological relation,” Doofus replied in a falsely considerate tone. He stalked across the witness stand, eyes curling at Louie. “So please, answer the question.”

“Um.” Aunt Opal concentrated, arms crossed. “I suppose our relationship is like any other father-daughter relationship.”

“Are you insinuating something foul?” Scrooge retorted hotly. He pushed the chair back, palms flat on the table. “I have always been a supportive father!”

“Supportive?” The sound of neck vertebrae clicking made Louie winced but for reasons he didn’t have time to elaborate. “Yes, Mr. McDuck, supportive. A traditional father-child relationship is founded on support.”

“Er…,” Louie faltered. “Yes?”

Doofus’ grin was cheshire in nature, uncomfortably toothy. “Ms. McDuck, would you say your father is supportive?”

“Yes,” she said firmly. Her shoulders relaxed. This was something she could answer easily. “He’s given me the tools to survive in the world. I’ll admit it hasn’t always been easy, but I can say I wouldn’t have gotten this far without the resilience he raised me with.”

Scrooge nodded smugly. “That’s my girl!”

But Louie could see Doofus wasn’t finished. He smirked at the old man’s overconfidence and swung back at Opal.

“I’m sure your father’s parenting skills ensured you’d be an independent woman. Any parent’s job is to ensure their child can thrive in a cold, heartless world.”

“Yes,” she smirked. “Did yours?”

Rather than taking the bait, Doofus merely nodded. “No, I merely made sure they could afford to live in mine.” He waved off the question. “But this isn’t about me.”

He clasped his right wrist behind his back. “It is about you and your father. About your father’s support of his family.”  
  
“He’s a stubborn old man, yes.” Opal said irritably. “But he isn’t a monster.”

“Of course, no one has claimed he’s a monster.” He raised his hands and shrugged. “Just a man, a flawed man. A man who has done more harm than good, and his family is not exempt.”  
  
“No!” Opal shook her head. “My father, yes, is...what you’d say is problematic, but he loves his family. He does.”  
  
“I’m sure he does, but what is love if not action leading words?” He entwined his fingers. “As we’ve observed today, Scrooge has been complicit and sometimes an outright cause to the disruption of families. Glomgold’s weird shark pack or whatever they were called.”

“Pods!” Glomgold shouted. “They swim in pods.”  
  
“Sharks are solitary creatures." Magica scoffed, showcasing her disdain. “They only work together for specifically large prey. Honestly, I don't even know how you survived."

"I say they were tenderizing him for supper." Ma Beagle retorted. "A shark's smart enough to take a free meal."

“I was one of them.” Glomgold sniffed. “I was one of them.”

Doofus continued, unfazed. “Yes, yes, and Ma Beagle’s loss of innocence. She who believed her beloved Pappy was smart enough to con his way through a simple arm wrestling challenge.”

“Your point, prosecution.” Louie groaned, gripping the sides of his forehead. 

“Ah, yes, support.” Doofus pointed to the ceiling. “A loving father supports his daughter...his children, which we can say Scrooge has many of, and trust me when I say, I have conducted my research in preparation for this case. Old interviews, lost diaries, abandoned photo albums, receipts tossed in the garbage.”

“What are you? A raccoon?” Louie scowled. “That’s disgusting.”  
  
“Say what you will, Llwelyn,” Doofus countered proudly, “but for sake of my case, I shall prove to everyone here how supportive Scrooge McDuck is.” He turned to Opal with slow deliberation. It made their stomach queasy. “Ms. McDuck, you graduated from Mouseton University, correct?”

“In computer science, yes."

“And as I am sure you are aware the tuition was to...die for, was it?”

Aunt Opal chuckled. “Certainly, but I managed to get scholarships over the years. Helped pay for most of it.”

“Financial aid?”

“Oh, well, no.” Opal frowned, and she thought for several seconds, brow needled in an outline of a bird taking flight. “My parents combined income disqualified me from receiving any.”

“Mouseton is a long commute.” Doofus tilted his head inquisitively to the side. He slapped his hand onto his cheek. “How did you ever make the way?”

“I...I moved there. In an apartment. I had part-time jobs to pay for food, rent and utilities.”

“How many?”

Opal thought for a minute. “About four, I think. I was a part-time model. I worked at the student union. Had a third job as a copy-writer. I tutored in the campus library.”

Doofus nodded. “A hardworking young woman, was it hard?”

“Of course, it was hard.” Opal laughed thinly. “I was working four jobs and was a full time student. I didn’t have much time for anything else.”

Louie glared, holding his breath beside his uncle, who had gone uncharacteristically quiet.

“I’d assume so, but Ms. McDuck, why didn’t you ask your father?”  
  
“For what?”

“Ask for what?” Doofus blinked, then _tsked_ loudly at Opal’s obliviousness. “Oh, Ms. McDuck.”  
  
Opal massaged her temples and inhaled deeply. Her chest rose and fell in a rhythmic pattern. “My father made it clear when I was a high school freshman that it was _my_ responsibility to make it in the world, to be a success. I could live with him, of course, but it wasn’t feasible with ongoing traffic and all. It was pragmatic to live in Mouseton, and I found ways to pay for what I need.”

“And she did.” Scrooge said in a stern tone, growing angrier by the second. “She graduated with honors, and we were so proud.”

“Can you please not,” Louie groaned miserably. His uncle’s commentary was exactly what Doofus wanted, and by the way his grin salivated, Louie knew they had unwittingly fed the monster again.

“Graduation...yes...graduation…” Doofus tapped his fingertips. Light reflected harshly on his glasses. “You worked four part-time jobs while being a full time student. Did you ever get tired?”

Opal snorted. “I was a college student. I was constantly exhausted, but I persevered."

"You persevered." His beak curled in a fashion that suggested skepticism. "Really?"

"It's what I said." 

“Assuming you had taken on part-time jobs, this means you had just enough for your living expenses. Am I correct?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, I was able to pay for my rent and utilities.”

“What about food?”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, food.” Doofus crossed his arms, assuming a grave expression. “Were you able to eat?”

“I...no, not always.” She said thoughtfully, head tilted to the side. “Somedays, I didn’t eat.”

“For how long?”

“Days? Weeks?” She left eye twitched, almost imperceptible at their distance. Louie caught sight a pulsated vein underneath her lower eyelid. “I just...I drank water, and...I didn’t die, obviously. When you have to budget, you take out the things you can live without, and for a time, it was food. I needed lights and running water.”

Louie looked at his uncle and read the paleness crowning his whiskers. Tiny beads of sweat tangled in his feathers. “Hey, don’t badger the witness.” He moved quickly, getting on his feet. 

“Badger?” He pressed his hands to his chest, affronted. “No, I want to understand, Llewelyn. You see. Ms. McDuck confessed to not eating when she could not afford it. Did that ever adversely affect your health?”

“No...I...usually I managed -,”  
  
But Doofus was quicker. “What about Dr. Smez’s course? Your senior year?”

Opal snapped her mouth shut. Her eyes fluttered to theirs the back again, and she clasped her hands together. “I...it was an incident that has no relevance to this case. At all.” Her firmness manifested to stone. 

Louie could see Doofus thought differently. Even he thought differently. “You fainted in the middle of your senior thesis proposal at the beginning of your senior year, Ms. McDuck.” He faced them, grin small and tight. “Unable to be revived at school, you were sent to Mouseton University Hospital.”

Scrooge stiffened beside him. Louie wasn’t close enough to feel the muscles tightened but knew they had. “You didn’t know,” he whispered. Scrooge swallowed, shaking his head tightly.

“Yes,” Opal admitted. “I was sent to the hospital. The doctor said about low vitals and...overworking and stress and malnutrition. I was kept overnight.”

“Any visitors?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“My mother.”

Doofus brow rose in fake surprise. “Your mother, Goldie O'Gilt.” He chuckled gleefully. “Your Goldiemama, am I correct?”

“I don’t think she appreciates the name, but yes, my mom.” She swallowed. “I had her as my emergency contact.”

“But your mother, as we all know, lives halfway across the world.” He gestured grandly. “Why her?”

“Because...because…,” she blinked furiously and inhaled tightly, suppressing a knot in her throat. “My mom is a thief. It’s true. She’s also understanding. I knew she’d come, no matter how long it’d take, and it didn’t take long. I knew she’d ask questions. I knew she’d try to help. I knew she wouldn’t think less of me for needing help and for not finding out a smarter way of figuring it out.”

"So your father would?" Doofus paused his pacing, crossed his arms and continued to pick at the long ago healed scab until it bled. "Your father would've judged you for being poor?"

"Well, not being poor. Just...not being good enough."

Doofus' eyebrows rose in mocking surprise. "I presume your mother did come and helped, asked questions? That sort of thing?"

Opal nodded, smiling. “She was furious with me, but that was natural. She was scared. I begged her not to tell anyone, and we broke a deal.”

“What deal was it, Ms. McDuck?”  
  
Her tongue was pressed to the top of her mouth. “I’d have to accept her help.”

“Your mother offered to pay your tuition?” 

“Yes?” She already read the question in the question. “I...I didn’t want to disappoint my dad. I wanted him to believe I could do it, and if he knew I did it on my own, he’d...respect me? Approve of me? I don’t know. She’d been pushing for years.”

Doofus nodded sympathetically, which was a lie. “Please, do go on.”

“She’d pay my tuition, rent and utilities, and she’d keep my secret.”

“And she did?”

Opal looked up at them, smiling sadly. She looked away, down at her lap and nodded. “Yeah, it seems she did, but I paid her back. Every cent I paid back. She didn’t complain. She took it and went on her way.”

Hearing this, Scrooge bolstered forward. “See? I taught my daughter personal responsibility. Yes, she had a little...er...mishap, but she took control.”

"Mishap is underselling it a bit." Louie griped sourly.

Doofus wasn’t finished. Louie could see it, and by the way Opal flinched, she knew it too. 

“She did take control.” He smiled, causing ripples to form on his boyish cheeks. “You paid every cent, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“And what did your Goldiemama do with the money.”

Opal glanced at them, and Louie saw the apology in her eyes. But was it for him or Scrooge? He couldn’t tell.

“She gave it back to me when I left my father’s house a few years later.”

Scrooge’s smirk wavered.

"You left?" Doofus stepped closer to the witness stand. "Remember, you are required to tell the truth."

Opal's mouth curled tightly, as if this was the most humiliating component of being a witness. "She gave me the money when he kicked me out."

“I may have fired her too."  
  
Louie choked. “ _Uncle Scrooge!_ ”

Doofus snorted. “And why? Why did he kick you out years later?”

“It was about Della and Donald.” Before he had a chance to add his commentary, she smiled tightly. “I suggested he contact Donald, apologize for building the rocket. He was furious. I unemployed by noon."

Scrooge winced.

“I presume your mother found out?”

“I called her. I was...distraught. I couldn’t help but call her.”

“And?” Doofus tapped his cheek thoughtfully. “Was she worried?”

“Absolutely. She wanted me to stay in her penthouse downtown, but I moved in with Donald and the boys. It was a little cramp with Gladstone too.” She laughed at the memory, “But we were okay. After I got the money, I gave Donald some and moved into an apartment. I started working IT.”

“Yes. Yes.” Doofus folded his arms and approached the defense table. He eyed Louie and Scrooge carefully, squinting at them. “We’ve seen how he’s dealt with his enemies. Cold, callous and cruel. But the question we should’ve asked is how supercilious he has been to his own kin and how they are required to forgive his trespasses when he has done nothing, nothing to earn it.”

“Wait, no -,” Opal tried to say, but her protest faltered. She sank back in her chair, brow drawn and eyes blank. “He’s not a good man, but he is _not_ the villain you’re making him out to be.”

“No!” Doofus shouted. Louie winced, ears ringing. “He is not a villain, but neither is he the hero he paints himself to be. He is but a man, a flawed man who soothes his ego by reinforcing unhealthy and self destructive ethics onto his family.”  
  
“That’s not true.” Scrooge protested, but even then, the fire had gone out in his voice. 

“Then, pray tell, why did your daughter not trust you to support her when her health began to fail her? When she took your values as gospel?” Doofus chuckled dryly, shaking his head as he approached the indomitable statue. “A failure of a man is one thing, but a failure of a parent is another. I’d say it’s deeper than anything else.”

Scrooge was silent. His expression had crinkled, folded on top of itself as he processed these discoveries. 

“You ostracized one nephew, leaving him to raise your grand nephews alone. You abandoned another in the sea. You resent the lucky one. Your niece? Your beloved niece you spoiled.” He sneered with triumph. “You spoiled her into believing flying to space unassisted was a _good_ thing. These are the crimes you must answer for, Scrooge McDuck. The crime of failing your children.” He pointed dramatically across the room, accusingly at the defendant, Scrooge McDuck.

Louie fell back in his chair, breathless, speechless and more. He raised his head and saw his aunt’s face. _Remorseful._

 _Why?_ He wanted to ask. _All you did was tell the truth._

He might've said it aloud. He might've looked at his uncle's defeated shoulder slump. He didn't get the chance. The statue's judgment was swift, and Opal disappeared in a gold flash, landing atop the three person pile with an audible _oomph_ on the guilty plate.

"Aye, you've got your mother's eyes."

"Shut up, Glomgold." Opal huffed, crossing her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this was going to include Goldie for a single joke I had, but two requests on tumblr asked about Opal's reaction, so here you go.
> 
> We're in the endgame now.


End file.
